New CEO: How to prepare your first speech to your leadership team. By Ruth Tearle

 As a new CEO, you may have been appointed by a board of directors, to turn around an organization. To do this, you need the support of your management team. This team is used to working with the previous CEO, who may be different to you.

As a new CEO, you need to let your leadership team know what you expect from them, and what they can expect from you.

The easiest way to do this, is to deliver a carefully crafted speech in your first meeting with your management team.

Some of the team members may have flourished under the previous CEO, and may be filled with apprehension about your appointment. Other members of the team may have suffered under the leadership of the previous CEO, and may be looking forward to working with someone with a different leadership style. All of your team members are wondering:

• Who are you?
• What do you expect from them?
• What are you intending to change? How this will affect them and their careers?
• What can they expect from you?

If you fail to answer these questions during your first meeting with your team, they will try to figure out your expectations themselves. They will interpret your intentions from your actions, your lack of actions or your body language.

They will waste a great amount of time trying to 'work you out' as they interpret or misinterpret your motives from what you do or say. They will then spend even more time comparing what they think you are about, with other members of the team.

Use your first meeting with your management team, to clarify expectations. This will help you to:

• Build trust with your leadership team.
• Clarify expectations. Set the tone for a new era under your leadership.
• Generate support from your leadership team in tackling the challenges you are likely to face during the next few months.

 1. Why did you accept the position of new CEO of this organization?

• What attracted you to the job? What positive things did you hear about this organization or about the team you are going to lead?
• What challenges were you given to you by the board of directors that excite you? Which of these challenges would excite the existing leadership team?
• Which challenges are likely to threaten the existing leadership team?

2. How do you want your leadership team to behave?

• What is your favourite team sport?
• What have you noticed about the way members of winning sports teams behave towards one another?
• What do coaches of winning sports teams do, that allow their teams and every team member to perform at their best?
• How would you like yourself and your team members to behave towards one another?

3. The behaviours you expect from your team.

• What do you expect from every member of your leadership team?
• How do you expect them to behave towards each other?
• How should they behave towards you?
• How should they behave to their own subordinate teams?
• How should they behave towards their customers?

4. The behaviours you will not tolerate.

• What behaviours have you experienced in the past, in other organisations, that you don't want to see in this team?
• What behaviours or habits irritate or frustrate you?
• What behaviours or habits have you seen destroying other teams in the past?
• What do people do, who bring out the worst rather than the best in you?

5. What your leadership team can expect from you.

There are some people who always get the best out of you as a leader. How do they behave towards you that brings out your best side?

How do you like to support people who 'bring the best out of you? How do you support them in terms of:

• Helping them achieve their career aspirations?
• Fighting political battles for them?
• Other ways you support them.

What can your team expect from you as their leader?

What can they not expect from you as their leader?

Your speech should contain the following content: Use the answers you gave to the questions listed above to fill in the detail.

Introduction

The purpose of your introduction is to let your team know that you respect them and the organization. In your introduction you should:

• Explain to the group why you accepted the position of being their new CEO. Talk about what attracted you to this organization - be it the company's reputation, its markets, it products or its management.
• Talk about the challenge you were given by the board of directors when you agreed to take the job of CEO.
• Explain that one of your beliefs is that leading an organization is a team sport. Share your views regarding how winning teams behave.

Who you are and what is important to you.

Provide a few details about yourself. How past experiences in your life or work have shaped your values. For example:

• The country you were born into, and the experiences you may have had as a result of the political or social environment of that country at that time.
• An early school experience which may have shaped what you now see as important to achieving success.
• A value that your parents may have instilled into you. Such as being on time.
• Other great leaders you may have worked under, or wonderful teams you have worked in, who influenced your views on how teams should work together.

Then talk a bit about what is important to you. Your values. Examples could include:

• Honesty. Telling it like it is. Giving honest feedback with the intention of improving team performance.
• Respect for others. Keeping appointments. Being on time.
• Taking responsibility - for one's one performance and for the overall performance of the team.
• Supporting one another. If a team member drops the ball, another team member picks it up.

What you as CEO, expect from your leadership team.

Use the answers you gave to questions 2 and 3. List the five most important behaviours you expect from your team. Examples could include:

• Arrive at meetings 5 minutes before the scheduled start.
• Act like you are a member of a winning team. If we agree on something as a team, support it. If a team member is struggling - help him.
• Remember you are a member of two teams. You are both a member of the executive leadership team and a leader of your own subordinate team. You need to contribute to the success of both teams, and help both teams to develop.
• Tell it like it is, and take responsibility for making it better. If you see a problem looming, talk honestly, and directly to those who can deal with it. Show how you intend to help.
• Be yourself. Never pretend.
• Keep your promises and your commitments.

What is unacceptable to you.

Use the answers you gave to question 4. List up to 5 behaviours that frustrate you most, that you don't want to see happening in this team. Examples could include:

• People attending meetings but not being attentive. Being distracted by what is happening on their phones or tablets.
• People arriving late to meetings.
• People playing politics. Acting in ways to protect their power or blaming or saying things with the intention of harming other team members.
• People being defensive. Not recognising that feedback gives us the opportunity to improve. Doing things in their own area without caring how they could impact on other areas.

What your team can expect from you.

Use the answers you gave to question 5. List how you will support your team.

Examples could include:

• I will trust you to do your job. I won't micromanage or constantly check on you.
• I will provide clear guidance in the form of a detailed vision and set of values for the organization. We will build this together.
• I will support you, and fight political battles on your behalf. But keep me informed so that I have the ammunition to fight for you.

The challenges you and your team face over the next 12 months.

Use your answers to question 1 here.

Examples could include:

• We need to stabilise the organization.
• We need to rebuild trust with our customers and our employees.
• We need to work as a team, guided by a common set of values.
• We need to move beyond talking about customer focus - to having a clear strategy for winning customers. Then implementing that strategy.
• We need to build a vision and strategy. Then ensure that everything we do supports that vision and strategy.

How we will work together to achieve these challenges.

I intend to meet each of you individually in order to:

• Find out what is working for you, and what isn't.
• Learn about your career aspirations and how I can help you achieve these.
• Find out what support you need from me.

I will also meet with our customers order to:

• To find out what is working for them, and what isn't.
• Find ways we can improve in their eyes.

I will meet with our suppliers to find out:

• What is working well, and what we need to improve.
• Ways we can work more efficiently together.

Then as a team we will get together and craft:

• A set of values that will define how we work in our organization.
• A vision and strategy for winning customers, that will guide everything we do.

End your presentation in a way that inspires you team.

Provide a statement that shows the confidence you have in the team:

• To meet the challenges facing us all.
• To create a wonderful future for the organization and its employees.

State how you look forward to working together with the team.

e.g. A statement from Tim Cook of Apple:

"I am confident our best years lie ahead of us, and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is."

Remember that you want your team to leave the first meeting feeling excited about the challenges ahead, and working together with you to achieve something great.